American Literature Test 1 Review

The First Great Awakening

part of a much larger Romantic religious movement that was sweeping across England, Scotland, and Germany. It built upon on the foundations of older Christian traditions—Puritanism, Pietism, and Presbyterianism. Works included sermons like Jonathan Edwards: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Second Great Awakening

Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The MethodistChurch used circuit riders to reach people in frontier locations. led to a period of antebellum social reform and an emphasis on salvation by institutions. The outpouring of religious fervor and revival began in Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s and early 1800s among the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. It led to the founding of several well-known

colleges, seminaries, and mission societies.

Third Great Awakening

Third Great Awakening: Shift from emphasis on personal to social sin; rise in belief that poverty is not a personal failure ("the wages of sin") but a societal failure that can be addressed by the state; shift to more secular interpretation of the Bible and creed.

Calvinism-

associated with Karma and “everything happens for a reason” Stresses god’s omniscience

Deism-

God’s eternal clock. Stresses importance of free will.

Why American Lit could be special in its beginning:America was full of people from other countries;

we could make all of their myths our own.

Why American Lit could be special in its beginning:America had very little folklore;

we could have a fresh start

Why American Lit could be special in its beginning:America’s natural beauty (regionalism);

the Rocky Mountains, The Mississippi River, The Great Plains, etc.

Why American Lit could be special in its beginning: Tradition

We had some myths from the oral tradition of the natives which could be written down

Why American Lit could be special in its beginning: We could write about the adventurous pioneering

American military, culture, and way of life.

Pre-colonial-

like Greek, Roman, and Enlightenment works, the “Constitution of the Iroquis Nation” played a part in the birth of America

The Colonial Time Period Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672),

poet who wrote tender evocations of home and family life

The Colonial Time Period Edward Taylor (1645–1729)

wrote poems expounding Puritan virtues in a highly wrought metaphysical (symbolically odd and complicated) style

The Colonial Time Period Cotton Mather (Harvard educated Puritan minister and author): The Christian Philosopher (1721)

demonstrates the harmony between religion and the new science associated with Sir Isaac Newton.

I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem- by Maryse Condé:

Tituba is biracial. She grows up living with an old spiritual herbalist named Mama Yaya, and learning about traditional healing methods. She falls in love and marries an enslaved man, John Indian, willing to return to slavery on his behalf. In the end, she joins the spirit realm, inciting future revolts whenever possible.

The Crucible-by Arthur Miller:

Tituba is the first person accused of witchcraft. She confesses only after she is threatened with beatings. She mainly admits to using black magic because the conniving Abigail manipulates her into doing it. If she had stuck to her convictions, then Abigail would be revealed as the liar and instigator.

Samuel Adams: Articles of Confederation (1777)

the predecessor to the U.S. Constitution (1787)

Josiah Quincy: “An Independent” (1770):

an article in support of non-importation (forcing US to accept limitations and taxes on American goods while forcing us to use products from Britain)

John Dickinson: A series of letters signed “A Farmer” (1767)

Concerns about the Townshend Acts (enforced

taxation on many goods to pay for the French Indian War)

Joseph Galloway: “Plan of Union” (1774):

a failed loyalist plan for an imperial legislature and written constitution

reuniting Britain and America.

Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791)

(Franklin’s life) and

Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732);

; Colonial American magazine-style collection that gave folk wisdom, opinion

pieces, and farming information.

Thomas Paine: “Common Sense” (1775)

(pamphlet) and The American Crisis (a collection of pamphlets)

Advocating revolution/ independence from Great Britain

Olaudah Equiano:

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of . . . (1789)

“The Whistle”-

letter that is a metaphor for overspending

Washington Irving’s The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon contains

short stories like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”and “Rip Van Winkle

James Fennimore Cooper popularized

the novella by copying the writing style of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe in his Last of the Mohicans (the second part to The Leather Stocking Tales)

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

was an optimist who believed in the importance of self-reliance. Transcendentalism (pantheism)

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

wrote "On Walden Pond" about his experience living alone in nature and how

this lifestyle surpassed life in busy civilization. In his essay "Civil Disobedience" (1849)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849),

, Gothic, Dark romanticist/pessimist- wrote “The Raven” and “The Cask of

Amontillado”

Herman Melville-

Moby Dick: a white whale is a symbol for all that is evil in man

Nathaniel Hawthorne-

- Scarlet Letter- an adulteress wont tell who she has been with: “A” stands for Adulterer but also able and angelic

Nihilism-

all is nothing: Frederich Nietzsche’s vow of silence. Why drink water? I’m going to die one day no matter what, might as well go thirsty.

Epicureanism (Hedonism)-

- followed by Roman emperors: Nero and Caligula associated with “Carpe diem”(Seize the day). That which feels good is good; the more the merrier; nothing exceeds like excess; if a little of something, a lot must be WAY better (Rock star mentality)

Stoicism: from Seneca;

everything is good in moderation; foundation for new testament Christianity. Wisdom and logic one can transcend destructive or intense emotional states.